Subscribing to a meal kit is a great way to get dinner on the table every night with minimal hassle. As a bonus, meal kits are generally healthier and less expensive than dining out.
However, there are so many to choose from that it can be challenging to pick the one that’s the best fit for your household’s needs, budget, and tastes.
Home Chef and Blue Apron are two popular choices that offer healthy recipes and simple dishes at a mid-range price. Our Home Chef vs. Blue Apron guide shares what you should consider when comparing these services.
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Is Home Chef or Blue Apron Better?
Home Chef and Blue Apron are two moderately priced meal delivery subscription services that offer ready-to-make meals with pre-portioned fresh ingredients delivered right to your door.
Home Chef is owned by grocery giant Kroger, and you can purchase some Home Chef meal kits in Kroger stores. Blue Apron is a standalone company.
We extensively tested both Home Chef and Blue Apron, and we’ve compared them based on the following criteria:
- Cost: Which service provides a better value and offers the lowest price per serving?
- Specialty diets: Which meal kit is best for people with specific dietary needs, like paleo, keto, or vegan?
- Add-ons: Does one of these meal delivery services offer better add-ons, like premium meals, snacks, breakfasts, or desserts?
- Packaging: Which meal kit company offers more convenient and eco-friendly packaging?
- Preparation ease: Does one of these meal kit delivery services stand out when it comes to easy-to-follow instructions and meal prep?
- Supporting materials: Which meal delivery kit has higher-quality recipe cards or other supporting materials?
- Taste: Which of the two at-home meal kits offers a wider variety of delicious meals, and which service won for taste during our hands-on testing?
- Customer service: Between Blue Apron and Home Chef, which offers better customer service and is easier to cancel?
Here’s how Home Chef and Blue Apron compare.
Home Chef vs. Blue Apron: Cost
Home Chef and Blue Apron offer customizable plans, with differences in pricing based on the size of your order. For each service, larger plans have a lower per-serving price.
Prices for Home Chef start at $8.99 per serving. Shipping costs $7.99 per order, but the smallest box costs $13.99 to ship.
Here’s a breakdown of their per-serving pricing:
| Servings Per Week | Total Cost with Shipping |
|---|---|
| 4 servings (2 people, 2 recipes) | $49.95 |
| 6 servings (2 people, 3 recipes) | $61.93 |
| 8 servings (2 people, 4 recipes or 4 people, 2 recipes) | $79.91 |
| 10 servings (2 people, 5 recipes) | $97.89 |
| 12 servings (2 ppl, 6 recipes or 4 ppl, 3 recipes or 6 ppl, 2 recipes) | $115.87 |
| 16 servings (4 people, 4 recipes) | $151.83 |
| 18 servings (6 people, 3 recipes) | $169.81 |
| 20 servings (4 people, 5 recipes) | $187.79 |
| 24 servings (4 people, 6 recipes or 6 people, 4 recipes) | $223.75 |
| 30 servings (6 people, 5 recipes) | $277.69 |
| 36 servings (6 people, 6 recipes) | $331.63 |
Currently, you can get $10 off of your second Home Chef delivery when you sign up.
Blue Apron’s prices begin at $7.49 per serving, and shipping costs $9.99 per order. Here’s how their pricing breaks down:
| Servings Per Week | Total Cost with Shipping |
|---|---|
| 2 people, 2 recipes per week (4 servings) | $49.95 |
| 2 people, 3 recipes per week (6 servings) | $63.93 |
| 2 people, 4 recipes per week (8 servings) | $81.91 |
| 4 people, 2 recipes per week (8 servings) | $81.91 |
| 4 people, 3 recipes per week (12 servings) | $105.87 |
| 4 people, 4 recipes per week (16 servings) | $129.83 |
Right now, Frugal Rules readers can receive $200 off their first six boxes of Blue Apron.
Blue Apron offers the lowest price per serving and a cheaper shipping fee, making it the better option for cost. However, it’s important to compare prices based on the box size you’ll need.
Winner: Blue Apron
*Related: Are you looking for more affordable meal delivery kits? Try our free quiz to identify the best choice for your needs.
Blue Apron vs. Home Chef: Specialty Diets
Blue Apron and Home Chef are made for households with no specific dietary needs. They don’t offer options for vegans, food allergies, or special diets like paleo or keto.
However, both offer some options for vegetarians and pescatarians as well as a dedicated plant-based menu. Likewise, each service provides some ability to customize your meals, like swapping out proteins on certain menu items.
Additionally, Home Chef offers low-calorie and low-carb options.
Blue Apron offers a “Wellness” plan, which features dietitian-approved menu options, whole grains, low-carb recipes, and Weight Watchers-friendly meals.
Overall, these services are equal when it comes to specialty diets. For stricter dietary restrictions, you may want to consider options like Green Chef or Purple Carrot.
Winner: Tie
Home Chef vs. Blue Apron: Add-ons
Both Home Chef and Blue Apron offer add-on items and premium meals.
The premium meals cost extra with each service, but they contain higher quality, pricier ingredients.
Additionally, Home Chef offers add-on bundles to help round out your weekly meal options. For example, you could get a soup and salad bundle or a dessert bundle.
They even offer single add-on items, including dessert, breakfast, lunch, drinks, bread, snacks, soups, salads, and extra proteins.
Blue Apron doesn’t offer add-on meal items, but they do have a wine subscription service that curates wine pairings for your meal choices. Plus, they provide one-time add-ons of wine, pantry items, seasonal meal kits, and kitchen tools.
However, Home Chef’s food add-ons are more practical for most households.
Winner: Home Chef
Blue Apron vs. Home Chef: Packaging
Blue Apron and Home Chef have packaging with many recyclable or reusable components.
However, both use more plastic than comparable services, such as HelloFresh. Read our HelloFresh vs. Blue Apron review to see how the two companies compare.
With Home Chef, all of the ingredients for each recipe were organized into their own sealed plastic bag.
With Blue Apron, some of the ingredients were sorted by recipe, while others were loose in the box.
Overall, I found that Home Chef’s packaging was slightly more organized.
Winner: Home Chef
Home Chef vs. Blue Apron: Preparation Ease
Home Chef and Blue Apron were equal in terms of prep time and preparation ease.
With both services, I was able to prepare the meals in about 30 minutes.
Both require some vegetable prep, like washing, slicing, and chopping. However, using the pre-made sauces and seasoning mixes helped speed up the cooking process.
In addition, Home Chef offers several options for quick, low-prep meals, including Express (15-minute meals), Fast & Fresh (microwavable meals), and Oven-Ready (meals that are ready-to-bake).
Winner: Home Chef
Blue Apron vs. Home Chef: Supporting Materials
I was impressed with the quality of Blue Apron and Home Chef’s recipe cards.
Both were full-color and extremely detailed, making them great for beginner cooks or novice chefs.
Winner: Tie
Home Chef vs. Blue Apron: Taste
Home Chef and Blue Apron offer a variety of recipes each week that sound delicious. Their options include comfort food, kid-friendly meals, homestyle meals, and unique dishes from worldwide cuisines.
Some recent meal options from Home Chef include:
- Spinach Artichoke Chicken with Roasted Broccoli and Zucchini
- Crispy Boom Boom Shrimp Rice Bowl with Edamame and Bok Choy
- Jalapeno Popper Chicken Thigh Flatbreads with Green Onions and Crispy Jalapenos
Recent menu choices from Blue Apron include:
- Cheesy Pork Chorizo Enchiladas with Bell Pepper & Rice
- Pesto Pasta with Zucchini and Lemon Ricotta
- Sambal-Glazed Salmon and Cilantro Rice
When I was testing the services, Home Chef edged out Blue Apron regarding taste. However, Blue Apron’s portion sizes seemed larger and more generous.
My entire family raved over Home Chef’s Crunchy Wonton Chicken and Spicy Gochujang Aioli with Sesame Brussels Sprouts. It was delicious.
Since trying this recipe, I have kept a bottle of sesame dressing on hand for tossing with roasted brussels sprouts.
We were still pleased with Blue Apron as well. Their Creamy Cilantro Chicken with Toasted Pepita Rice and Green Beans had an amazing creamy cilantro sauce that I’d love to buy a bottle of.
Read our Home Chef review to learn more.
Read our Blue Apron review to learn more.
Winner: Home Chef
Blue Apron vs. Home Chef: Customer Service
I had no issues with my Blue Apron or Home Chef orders, so I didn’t need to contact customer service directly.
I also found that both services made it simple to skip weeks, change your meal plan, or cancel your subscription.
Winner: Tie
What’s the Difference Between Home Chef and Blue Apron?
Choosing the right meal delivery service can be challenging. However, in our testing of Blue Apron vs. Home Chef, Home Chef emerged as the winner.
Both have pros and cons, but Home Chef stood out during our analysis. Here is how each meal kit compared fared in the respective categories.
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Best price | Blue Apron |
| Best for specialty diets | Tie |
| Best add-ons | Home Chef |
| Best packaging | Home Chef |
| Best prep | Home Chef |
| Best supporting materials | Tie |
| Best taste | Home Chef |
| Best customer service | Tie |
Our overall winner is Home Chef. As an alternative to Blue Apron, it’s better in regards to add-ons, packaging, preparation ease, and taste.
Another thing to consider is that Home Chef offers up to six meals per week for six people, making it a good choice for larger families. Most Blue Apron plans are only available for two people.
I still consider both of these meal kit services worth it if you need a reasonably priced meal kit. However, it’s important to note that Blue Apron offers the lowest price per serving, so it could be a better choice if you’re on a budget.
Bottom Line
Home Chef and Blue Apron are two moderately priced meal kit services. They’re both great for reducing the time you spend on meal planning, grocery shopping, and making dinner.
While Blue Apron is less expensive overall, Home Chef offers better add-ons, more organized packaging, and slightly tastier meals.
Regardless, either of these services could be a good fit for your family’s mealtime needs.
What’s most important to you when choosing a meal delivery service?
SaVanna is a registered dietitian, freelance writer, and recipe developer. She’s a regular contributor for Healthline Nutrition and Greatist, and she blogs about low carb meal planning at SaVannaShoemaker.com. When she’s not writing about food and nutrition, she’s brainstorming ways to make meals that are inexpensive, kid friendly, tasty, and healthy.
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